Ice Storm & NY Maples

I've seen and heard about some of the damage to Sugar Maple in the northern
part of New York also. In addition to the problems ForestFair mentions I'd
also encourage anyone who has undamaged Sugar Maple to hang onto it (DON'T
CUT), at least for the short term. I expect a lot of storm damage timber
(especially Sugar Maple) to come to market within the next six months. A
"timber flood" of this type WILL drive the price down. If you can I'd
suggest you hold on and let the market "digest" a bit before you try to
sell your Sugar Maple. Of course if you have storm damaged and / or down
material you really have no choice.
ForestFair <forestfair at aol.com> wrote in article
<19980116041500.XAA05981 at ladder02.news.aol.com>...
> Early reports from the north country are that the ice storm that hit much
of
> the northeast last week had a devastating effect on sugar maples in
northern NY
> (and probably in VT and Quebec). New York has 20% of the sugar maples in
the
> US, and some long-standing sugarbushes are no longer standing. Large
trees
> snapped off, causing stems to split and twist
>> One affected sugarbush owner interviewed on the news said she sees the
end of a
> way of life for many families -- by the time new maples grow to a
productive
> size, those who know the "how" will not be around to teach their
grandchildren
> how to produce maple sugar products.
>> There are still tens of thousands without utilities, and thousands remain
in
> shelters in NYS. No reliable estimates of damage in the outlying areas
(and
> most of the area in northern NY can be described as "outlying") are yet
> available.
>> Off-topic: A reply that I wrote on Sunday to a message in this newsgroup
about
> Forestry and Kids appeared on AOL for the first time today (1/15) bearing
> today's date, and soon after, a duplicate appeared. The message to which
I was
> replying had also disappeared for a few days. If AOLsubscribers seem to
be
> posting out of synch with the rest of you, that could be the reason.
>> ForestFair
>>>